Impossible To Find
by hey.regionals159
Summary: Takes place after Original Song Season 2 . Kurt and Blaine have a little competition about who can take the other on a better first date. Klaine and Wevid : Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

Kurt buried his head deep into his pillow, hoping the sound of his alarm would go away. As usual, it didn't, but instead woke up an irritated David, who didn't have class till 9:00 that morning.

"Just turn if off already," came his automatic grumble, and Kurt reluctantly did as he was told.

As he slowly sat up, he saw his moisturizers lined up next to his alarm clock. Blaine really was a genius, he marveled. On the first week Kurt had transferred to Dalton it became apparent that he was no morning person, so Blaine had suggested moving his moisturizers somewhere he would see them when he woke up. It certainly did give him motivation to hurry up and get out of bed because another minute dawdling meant one less minute spent on his skin, and that, he thought as he scooped up the bottles and headed to the bathroom, was simply unacceptable.

He gently rubbed his cheeks as he tried to remember why, when he thought of Blaine a few minutes ago, his heart rate resembled that of Pavoratti. He dropped the lotion bottle in the sink when it all came back to him. _He and Blaine were official now._ Right. Suddenly, his moisturizing routine didn't seem all that important anymore. He practically ran out of the bathroom when he realized that Blaine was _next door_, and he had no idea what to do. After they kissed yesterday – just thinking about it made the tempo of Kurt's already bird-like heartbeat increase from _allegro_ to _prestissimo_ - they both had enough adrenaline to carry themselves through three hours of practicing. Well, practicing their duet. Kurt smiled as he mentally corrected himself. Then Blaine made some excuse about needing to study, and Kurt didn't see him till later in the evening when he finally came to Kurt's room. Three hours and a million Youtube videos later, Blaine finally got around to officially asking if Kurt would be his boyfriend. Of course, Kurt responded in the affirmative, and they sealed matters with a kiss and a Facebook post.

But now, Kurt was left wondering exactly how to be a boyfriend. Blaine was probably asleep and didn't have class till 9 either, so as much as Kurt wanted to serenade him with a romantic song, that didn't seem like the best way to greet him on their first morning as a couple.

"You need to chill out."

Kurt turned to see that David was wide awake, staring at him.

"What?" His voice came out more high pitched than usual.

"Kurt, you're standing in the middle of the room in you pajamas, and you keep looking from the bathroom to the door so fast you're gonna get permanent brain damage."

Kurt felt his face slowly turn red, and he retreated to his bed. "Just because you and Wes function like an old, married couple doesn't mean that some of us can't be a little nervous when we have to see our _boyfriend_ for the first time," he huffed.

David chuckled. "You do realize that he's still the same person, don't you? You've seen him millions of times, it's no big deal."

"Clearly, you don't understand," Kurt replied, examining his fingernails. By the time he looked up, his ever-so-helpful roommate was asleep.

~oOo~

"Wes, Wes, Wes, Wes," Blaine chanted, as he strummed his guitar.

Wes pulled on a sweatshirt. "You know, these walls are pretty thin, and if Kurt hears you singing to me, he's going to be pretty upset."

"I'm not singing to you," Blaine explained, fingers still toying with the strings. "I'm trying to get your attention."

Wes froze with his pants halfway up, and smacked himself on the forehead. "Oh! Is that what you're trying to do?" he exclaimed with mock sarcasm.

"You can pull your pants up now!" Blaine sang, and punctuated the line with a few epic chords.

"Ok, I think_ both_ our boyfriends would start to wonder what's going on if they heard that."

Blaine sighed. "But I'm nervous. You know I sing everything or at least provide myself with accompaniment when I'm nervous."

"So we've entered_ that_ phase again."

Blaine ignored his jibe. "Seriously, what do I do when I see Kurt?"

Wes rolled his eyes. "I don't know. Just do whatever you do when you normally see him."

"Which would be?" His strumming became more intense.

"Oh, you know, get all pink in the face and forget how to stand there without looking more awkward then you usually do." He opened his textbook and sprawled out on his bed. "And if you keep playing that guitar, I'm not gonna be able to get anything done."

Blaine let his guitar fall onto his bed. "You are so not helpful," he declared a capella.

~oOo~

David clapped Blaine on the back on their way out of Spanish class.

"Good luck, man!"

Blaine's face only crumpled further.

"Look, not like you don't know what he's gonna say. Or maybe with that look he _will_ say no. C'mon, smile!"

David turned the corner, leaving an unusually nervous Blaine standing in the hallway, trying to get a grip on himself. Usually he and David headed to the cafeteria together, but Blaine wanted to ask Kurt out_ before_ lunch in order to reduce the potential awkward factor, such as food stuck in either of their teeth. Maybe Kurt wouldn't be consciously aware of this gentlemanly act on his part, but Blaine knew that Kurt certainly wouldn't want it the other way.

He shook his head to clear it, and that felt so good he decided to shake his arms out too, and then his legs.

"Ok," he told himself, "he's gonna love you." He smiled when he remembered why that sounded familiar – it was what Kurt told him before he sang to Jeremiah.

"_Oh God_," he thought. "_Why is my life so ridiculous?"_

Kurt had physics in the science wing, and if Blaine hurried, he'd be able to catch him on his way to the cafeteria. As he walked, he tried to calm himself down, even though he knew he shouldn't be nervous. It's just that the last time he tried to ask someone out, the guy lost his job. But this had no potential to turn into a Jeremiah-like incident, because that time he was only thinking about himself. This time, he was completely focused on Kurt, on giving Kurt everything he wanted-

"Blaine! What are you doing down this way?"

_Oh! Kurt! _

_Wait, I didn't say that out loud, did I? _

"Kurt!" That was better. He smiled his best open-mouthed-eyebrows-raised-entire-face-lit-up smile, but then realized that Kurt was waiting for an answer.

"I was just coming to find you! I- I had something I wanted to ask you, actually."

Kurt raised his eyebrows.

"But I can't ask you here. Come with me." He took Kurt's hand (the correct hand this time- God, why was he so uncoordinated that time when he first showed Kurt the shortcut to the Warbler's room? He cringed every time he thought about it) and led him outside to one of Dalton's many courtyards.

They sat down on a bench, Blaine still holding Kurt's hand.

"So, what's with all the theatrics?" Kurt smiled devilishly. "I _am _hungry, you know."

Blaine ignored him. "Kurt Hummel-Warbler," he began solemnly, and smiled at Kurt's suddenly nervous but _completely_ adorable face. "I think that, since you and I are dating, it would be imperative that we go on a real date." He paused, gauging Kurt's expression again, which was still nervous but now surprised. "I want to take you out." He squeezed Kurt's hand and leaned closer, putting his lips to his boyfriend's ear. "Are you doing anything Friday evening?" he whispered in a low voice.

Before Kurt had time to answer, Blaine wrapped his arms around him and slowly moved his lips from Kurt's ear down to his jawbone. He could feel Kurt's breath leave him as he reached his lips, and Blaine shuddered. But he couldn't let himself get sidetracked by kissing Kurt – he still needed an answer. He pulled away but kept his face inches from his boyfriend's.

He laughed as he watched Kurt try to regain composure.

"Well, when you put it that way," Kurt exhaled deeply, "then no, I suppose I'm not."

"Excellent."

"Do you have somewhere in mind?"

"Yeah, actually I do." He reached into the pocket his blazer and pulled out what looked like a glossy brochure that he proceeded to unfold.

When Kurt saw what it was, his eyebrows went straight up to his hairline.

"Bel Lago? Blaine, that's…" his expression was unreadable for a fraction of a second, but then he smiled. "Great!" he finished unconvincingly.

Blaine's heart sunk. He had done something wrong, but he wasn't exactly sure what. "Kurt? Something's the matter, isn't it?"

Kurt's eyes became wide. "No! Nothing's the matter!" he squeaked.

"I can tell something's wrong."

Still no response, just a perfect show face.

Wait a minute, this had worked a minute ago…Blaine leaned into Kurt and whispered in his ear again, as breathily as possible. "Tell me what's wrong. Please?"

"Oh, that is so not fair," Kurt groaned. He scooted away from Blaine to the end of the bench, and sat cross-legged, facing him. "It's nothing, really…just that Bel Lago is probably the most expensive restaurant within 50 miles of Westerville. But it's completely fine!" he hurried to add. "I've been saving up my shopping money for the past couple of weeks, and I'm totally willing to spend it on a date with you-"

"Kurt!" Blaine cut him off when he figured out what was going on. Did Kurt not know what a date was, or something? For someone who claimed to like romance novels and chick flicks, he still had a lot to learn. "If I ask you out on a date, that means I pay!"

"I know, traditionally speaking, yes, I am aware that you would pay." Blaine exhaled, relieved. Maybe he had a lot to teach his boyfriend about sex- _no, no, no, that is NOT what you're here to think about_- but at least he could be rest assured that Kurt was well versed in the romance department. "But I can't let you do that," Kurt finished, with the finality of someone who was laying down the law.

Blaine was baffled. "And why is that?"

"Because you'd be spending a fortune on me and –"

"Kurt, you know I can afford it-"

"Blaine, please let me finish."

Blaine pretended to zip his mouth and proceeded to throw away the key, but Kurt glared at him and he stopped mid-pantomime.

Kurt inhaled and tilted his head upward so that his chin stuck out. If anyone else did that, Blaine would have thought it was elitist, but on Kurt it was simply cute. "I'm sure you can afford this, Blaine, but I don't…I like doing things myself. Which I'm sure you're painfully aware of by now." He smiled out of the corner of his mouth. "And I've never liked the idea of expensive dates, because I think we could have just as much fun doing something completely free. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm high class and all that, but I think-" he seemed to be calibrating his words very carefully at this point- "I think that for our first date especially, it would take the focus off of us."

Well. He had done it again, hadn't he. Thought about himself and what he wanted, instead of the other person. And Kurt was no Jeremiah. This time it mattered.

"Blaine?" Kurt must have seen his face fall.

"I told you I'd screw this up." He pulled his legs up onto the bench and hugged his knees, which, with the blazer on, was quite a feat.

"Sorry, what?"

"Remember, in the Lima Bean on Valentine's Day? I said I knew nothing about relationships, and that I'd probably mess this up."

And then Kurt was sitting next to him, wrapping his arms around his shoulders.

"Look at me."

Blaine slowly raised his head.

"You didn't do anything wrong. I overreacted. I shouldn't have shot you down like that. Does it really mean a lot to you to be able to take me out somewhere nice?"

Blaine took both of Kurt's hands in his. "It kind of does, yeah," he admitted. "I want to be able to give you…things you've never had before." Oh, great, did that sound like what he thought it sounded like? Judging from Kurt's angelic smile, it probably didn't. "And I guess I've been raised to be that traditional gentleman. Did you know I took Barclay classes when I was in elementary school?"

"So you're telling me that all this charm doesn't automatically come with the blazer and tie?"

Blaine laughed. "I'm sorry to say, it does not."

"Damn. And I thought I had a chance at it."

The two boys sat in silence for a while, Blaine's head resting on Kurt's shoulder. Finally, Kurt spoke.

"I have a proposition."

"Go for it."

"I understand that you really want to go to a nice restaurant for our first date, and I promise that I'll let you take me there without offering to pay once."

_How did I manage to find the sweetest, most sensitive boy in the entire world?_

"But, I want us to go on two first dates."

Blaine furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "But…if there's two of them, they can't both be the first."

"That's right, Einstein. But I think we can forgive that minor detail forced upon us by the space-time continuum."

Blaine nodded eagerly. "Okay. So what's the second date going to be?"

"The second date is going to be my date. I'm going to take you out, and it's hardly going to cost us a thing. But trust me," he added, "you're going to have wayyy more fun."

"Oh, so we're making this a contest?" Blaine raised his eyebrows in mock surprise. Of course Kurt would get competitive over something like this.

"Bring it," Kurt declared, looking like he did when he was about to fight someone for a solo. "You go on Friday, and I go on Saturday."

"Deal."

They both had dead serious expressions, but then looked at each other and cracked up.

"C'mon, let's go eat." Kurt took Blaine's hand and they left the courtyard.

They got to the cafeteria , both breathless from skipping down the hallway. As he caught his breath, Kurt pondered how Blaine kept managing to make him happier and happier. Sure, he wasn't too thrilled with letting Blaine waste a fortune on him, but compromising was fun. They sat down across from Wes and David, still holding hands.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here." Wes regarded the pair opposite him with scrutiny.

"I told you he'd say yes, man," David shook his head at Blaine.

Kurt and Blaine looked at each other and giggled.

"Well…" Blaine began.

"It's complicated." Kurt assured them, and proceeded to unpack his lunch as Blaine did the same.

"Will you two just stop giggling and tell us what's going on?" Wes demanded.

"Nope," they responded at the same time.

"You two are just jealous," Blaine told them. "You might be the world's most mature and functional teenage couple, but we get to be the cutest. Right Kurt?"

"Right." Kurt planted a kiss on Blaine's cheek, and laughed out loud when he remembered first meeting David and Wes. Well, he met them right after Blaine sang Teenage Dream, but it was months later when he met David and Wes, the couple…

~oOo~

He dragged his suitcase into Room 127, grumbling to himself about sprained shoulders and broken fingernails.

"If you didn't bring 10 times Lauren Zizes' weight in clothes, we might actually be getting somewhere," Blaine panted from down the hall.

"Ok, first of all, that comment wasn't very nice, and second of all, yours is the light one. Just my scarves are in there."

Kurt heaved the suitcase onto the empty bed and saw Wes and David, who must have come in sometime between trips to the car, sitting at David's computer, side by side on the oversized desk chairs Dalton provided.

"Hi David!" He was glad he would be rooming with someone he'd already met.

"Hey, Kurt." David didn't turn around. He pointed to something at the screen and murmured to Wes.

Finally, Blaine stumbled into the room, kicking the suitcase in front of him. The two boys admired their work- eight huge bags that covered the entire floorspace of Kurt's side of the room.

Kurt turned to Blaine with a sheepish expression. "There's something I didn't tell you."

"And what might that be?" he asked hesitantly.

"There's one more bag in the backseat."

"What? You said everything was in the trunk!" Blaine crumpled to the floor.

"Oh, get up! I'll tell you what, you go get it, I'll make room here, and then I'll come meet you."

"Fine," he turned his back on Kurt dramatically.

"David, look at this one."

Kurt noticed for the first time that Wes' arm was around David, but it could have been completely platonic. He made a mental note to ask Blaine later.

David sighed. "Wes, I think we both know that's not a viable option. Stop looking at the logos and start reading about these plans. Life insurance is serious stuff, you can't just pick out a company because it looks pretty." He gave him a stern look.

"But that's how I picked you out," Wes argued.

_Oh._ Ok, wow.

That seemed to cave David, and he leaned down to kiss Wes on the forehead. "Just because that worked once, don't expect it to happen again."

Kurt banged the suitcases around to remind the happy couple that there was someone else in the room.

"Look, I think this one is the best plan if we know we want children," David pointed out.

"I agree with you, but you're still not thinking long term."

Kurt shook his head. _Were these two for real?_ Or was this some kind of joke? He took off to go find Blaine.

He found him halfway to the car, trying to figure out whether it was worth it to bend down and roll the suitcase, or just carry it.

"Ok. What's going on with Wes and David?" he demanded.

Blaine gave him a mock look of horror. "They're dating," he stated simply. "Surely you aren't prejudiced against this prime example of love and affection demonstrated by two of Dalton's star students?"

Kurt smacked him. "You know what I mean. They seem a little…fast track."

Blaine's face gave way to a grin. "So you finally met Wes and David the couple, huh?"

"Seems like it."

Kurt reached down and picked up one end of the suitcase so they could start making some progress.

"What were they doing?"

"I think they were shopping for life insurance. Seriously, who does that at this age?"

"Wes and David do." Blaine shrugged. "I wish I was there to see them meet. Nick, one of the Warblers, swears he didn't believe in love at first sight till he saw the two of them on the first day of freshman year."

They reached Kurt and David's room to find the boys lying on their stomachs on David's bed, looking at printouts of various Excel spreadsheets.

Wes looked up. "Blaine, how about you help Kurt unpack so David and I can use our room."

David beamed at Wes. "Perfect! Now we can print out the rest of the spreadsheets and lay them out across the entire room, and then study for our physics test tomorrow!" His look of pure innocence contrasted humorously with Wes' look that definitely didn't say "spreadsheets."

"Um, sure, studying, printouts, whatever you want- let's go!" He grabbed David by his tie, and led him out the door and into the next room.

When they heard the door slam and lock, Kurt exhaled dramatically.

"They are way too energetic, but still rather endearing."

"And sneaky and annoying," Blaine added. "Now I don't have a room."

"Oh, that's right! Well, you can stay here."

"Thanks." Blaine smiled and leaned in to hug Kurt. He stayed there for a minute and Kurt felt completely at home at Dalton, but that was probably because he could feel Blaine's breath on his neck.

"Just a fair warning," Blaine began as he pulled away, "those two are gonna try to throw us together as much as possible so they get that room to themselves. I can see Wes already has his mind set on it, and – well, nothing stops Wes."

Kurt tried desperately to come up with something witty to say, but his heartbeat had suddenly increased and he felt extremely lightheaded. Looking into Blaine's hazel eyes definitely wasn't helping.

"Well, I'm sure we'll be able to make the best of it." He took Blaine's hand and led him to the first suitcase. "Here, you can get started on the scarves."

~oOo~

"So now we can finally start making progress on my list of double date activities!" David was saying as Kurt focused back in on their conversation.

Wes rolled his eyes. "He's happier than you two – he's been excited for this for weeks now."

"Fine, but Kurt and I have to catch up on our individual date plans before we let you two come barging in," Blaine said.

David threw his hands up in the air. "Look at that. He gets a boyfriend and forgets about us."

"What, afraid you two are gonna fall over without your third wheel?"

"Yeah, c'mon David, time to get rid of our training wheel," Wes joked.

As Kurt listened to his friends bicker, he felt like he belonged here more than anywhere – he had a best-friend-turned-boyfriend and friends who were not only willing to support him but were thrilled about it.


	2. Chapter 2

At 7:30 am, Kurt decided he'd had it. He was going to go say good morning to Blaine because if he didn't, he wouldn't see him till lunch, and 12:30 seemed painfully far away. He adjusted his blazer one last time before opening the door as quietly as possible and knocking softly on the door adjacent to his. He heard soft guitar music, then somewhat of a crash before the door opened a crack.

"David?" A sliver of Wes' face appeared. "Oh, sorry!" He grinned. "Come on in, Kurt!"

Kurt stepped in and looked around for Blaine, who seemed to be in the bathroom, so he took a seat on Blaine's bed.

A minute later, Blaine came back in sweatpants and an old T-shirt. "Get off my bed, David," he grumbled.

Kurt chuckled and Blaine whirled around, hand over his mouth.

"Kurt! I – I didn't know you were – "he turned to Wes. "Why did you let him – " he faced Kurt again – "not that I don't want – " he looked down at himself – "but I look like a mess …"

Kurt smiled sweetly. "How about 'good morning, Kurt, it's so nice to see that you decided to pay me a visit before class!'"

Blaine looked completely frazzled. "Oh…yeah, that works too."

Kurt grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the bed next to him. Amidst snickers from Wes, he pulled Blaine into a hug and rested his head on the other boy's shoulder.

Blaine awkwardly patted him on the back. "Good morning."

Kurt laughed and nested himself further into Blaine's arms. He had never pictured himself being the one to initiate any physical gestures, in the beginning at least, but Blaine's just-out-of-bed look was too irresistible to pass up.

He sat up again to discover that Wes had left, presumably to say good morning to David.

"Ok Kurt, I'm going to get dressed and ready and everything, but you're welcome to say here till you have to leave for class." Blaine got up and headed back to the bathroom.

"Sounds good." Kurt was already sprawled across Blaine's bed, examining the contents of his night stand. His music side and his nerdy side both showed through in the assortment of items scattered on top: Guitar pick, pitch pipe, graphing calculator, notebook full of letters and numbers in combinations that Kurt didn't want to try to understand.

He opened the drawer underneath and gasped. "Blaine!" He shrieked.

Blaine ran out of the bathroom with one hand full of hair gel. "Kurt, what happened?"

"Nothing happened to _me_, Blaine. I was just wondering what happened to _you_!"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about _this_." Kurt held up a thick book with a glossy black cover sporting the familiar red apple. "What on earth ever possessed you to read _Twilight_?"

Blaine's jaw dropped and his face went bright red. "Kurt, give that back right now!" He tried to grab the book, but Kurt stood up on the bed and held it out of his reach.

"Not till you tell me why you're reading it." He smirked. "And don't even try to come up here and grab it, because you're a shrimp and you'll never reach it." Kurt secretly loved the height advantage, but it had never come in handy till now.

"Now don't _you_ start making fun of me for my height." He sat on the bed and put his head in his hands. "Why were you even looking through my stuff?"

"Boyfriend rights," Kurt explained simply.

"I'd say I hate you, but I don't think it would sound very convincing."

"Probably not," he agreed. He knew he was being totally obnoxious, but teasing Blaine was too much fun. Especially after finding out that he read _Twilight_! Kurt had never prided himself with impeccable gaydar, what with Finn and Sam, so he was proud of himself when he had been correct about his sneaking suspicion that Blaine played for his team. But after getting to know him better, he kept finding more and more things about him that simply screamed "gay," and this was the best one yet.

"Hmm, let's see what part you're reading," Kurt teased. He opened the book to the page marked by an intricately patterned gold-colored bookmark.

"Kuuurt…" he put on his best pleading face.

Kurt contemplated. "Fine." He snapped the book shut and hopped off the bed. "Since you look so adorably and appropriately embarrassed, I will spare you from a dramatic read-aloud. And Wes-" he glared at the other boy who had come in to see what the commotion was about, "You can stop that derisive laughter. I've shamed him enough for his unspeakable actions."

"Dude, I've known about this since day one. Like, seriously, listen to this." He smirked at Blaine as if daring him to stop him. Kurt's eyes lit up, while Blaine simultaneously shot a warning glance at Wes. "Freshman year I walk into the lounge to check out the hot new kid that David tweeted about, and I see him sitting there reading, which already makes him weird, right? And he kinda hides the book, like puts it behind his bag, when I come in. And then I'm thinking, ok, as hot as this kid is, he's actually mad sketch, but I'm keeping an open mind, you know?. And he looks up at me kind of expectantly and all shy, so I reach out to shake his hand and his bag falls out of the way and I see the cover of the book. I don't think I've ever been more appreciative for all my years of acting as I was then. "

"This is golden," Kurt gushed as he realized how much information he could probably get from Wes.

At the same time Blaine spoke through his teeth. "Wes, you better not say one more thing, you have no idea how much blackmail material I have on you, so if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your mouth shut tight."

"But then when I tell David, he has to be all, 'oh, I love that book.'" He imitated David's voice in a high pitched squeal.

"That is NOT what I sound like." David appeared in the doorway.

"Two years ago it was," Wes retorted, earning a slap from David.

"Tell the rest of the story!" Kurt demanded.

Blaine jabbed his finger in the direction of the door. "EVERYBODY OUT!"

"_You make meeeee feel like I'm livin' a teenage dream_," Blaine sang as he put on a jacket – _not _his Dalton blazer – slung his bag over his shoulder, and grabbed his car keys. He took one last look at the Google map he printed out before deciding he'd better bring it with him. This was the first time he would be driving to Kurt's house, and while the route didn't look complicated, he had never claimed to have excellent directional skills. Before he walked out the door, his phone buzzed in his pocket.

_Blaineeee! We are sooo excited for you! Have tons of fun! And tell us EVERYTHING! _

_ ~Alyssa and Alana _

Blaine rolled his eyes at the over-exuberance of his older twin sisters. It seemed like they'd been waiting for this moment longer than Blaine had.

_I'm excited toooo but really scared! What if I spill something on his clothes? Or get lost on the way to his house? ~ Blaine_

As annoying as they were sometimes, he really did appreciate the fact that he could talk to them about this. The persistent nagging (Did you ask him out yet? Did you kiss him yet? Did you touch his – _okay, they hadn't thrown that one at him yet, thankfully_) was a small price to pay for having two family members he could trust.

_Just be careful and bring your map with you! You're supermegafoxyawesomehot, how can anything go wrong? Oh, and Alana wants me to say that if any douchebags give you a hard time, we won't let them get away with it!_

He couldn't help but giggle.

_Thanks, ladies 3 I'm not expecting any trouble, but fingers crossed :) Ok I have to go or I'll be late!_

He shut and locked his door, left his dorm, and hurried to his car. Before turning on the engine, he checked his phone one last time.

_Ok! When all of these date shenanigans are over, we're all going to eat massive ice cream sundaes! _

These two seriously would never learn that "ice cream" and "diet" don't belong together. Ok, he wasn't really on a diet, but junk food wasn't something he liked to do often. And he would already be indulging with Kurt...

Speaking of whom…it would take him one hour and forty-nine minutes to get to his house, according to Google maps. Kurt had made a big deal of Blaine coming all the way out to Lima, but Blaine had insisted that since it was a real date, he wanted nothing more than to come and pick Kurt up. Normally, Kurt wouldn't have gone home for the weekend till later in the evening, but Burt and Carol were traveling that weekend for a wedding, and he wanted to see them before they left.

Blaine spent the drive listening to Katy Perry – Wes and David would have made fun of him, saying that he only liked Katy Perry because of Kurt, which of course wasn't true. Although Kurt did give Teenage Dream a special significance, he wouldn't have _chosen_ to sing the song if he didn't like Katy Perry in the first place! No one understood his logic.

He passed the street he usually turned onto on the rare occasions he went home. There was no need to go home, really, since his sisters were seniors at Crawford Country Day, Dalton's sister school, and he could easily meet up with them in town on the weekends. They went home about once a month, but if Blaine could help it, he only went back on breaks. There was no point in going home if he was going to be ignored – though after coming to Dalton and hearing the stories of others, he was thankful it was nothing worse. He continued on towards Kurt's house, humming along to "Last Friday Night."

~oOo~

"Kurt, you're going to do just fine." Mercedes' voice came through Kurt's iPhone that was set on speaker and perched on top of his dresser, since he needed both hands to finish styling his hair. It was 6:00, and Blaine would be there in half an hour.

"I hope so," he said through his teeth, which were preoccupied with a few bobby pins. They wouldn't stay in his hair, of course, but they were part of the process.

"I mean, I don't see what else there is to do besides look totally amazing, which I already know you will! We already found the menu of this place and picked out a reasonably priced dish for you to order…I just wish he would tell you where he's taking you after."

"I know, I can't believe he wouldn't tell me! I hope my outfit's okay for wherever we're going."

"Ugh, I shouldn't have reminded you about that! You worry too much. Listen, just relax and have fun, and remember every detail so you can tell me the whole story later, okay?"

"Oh, believe me, I will." He closed his eyes and sprayed a cloud of hairspray around his head, locking his masterpiece into place. "Alright, I'm going to go so I can finish getting ready."

"Ok, bye Kurt!"

"Bye!"

He took a deep breath. His nervousness was really starting to set in, and he was just thankful that his dad wasn't there to see him this jittery. He had told him where he was going, of course, and Burt and Carol were both glad for him, but slightly apprehensive. They instructed him to call Finn if anything went wrong or if he needed to get picked up.

"Dude," Finn assured him over the phone, "I would say you're both dudes so you don't need to worry about anything, but Rachel's dads just told me some crazy ass stuff, so if this guy tries to pull anything on you, I'm gonna kick him in the nuts."

And as much as he appreciated his brother's innocence and concern, he highly doubted that his efforts would be necessary.

At 6:25, he was completely ready. He grabbed his phone out of its charger, slipped it into his messenger bag, and headed downstairs to wait for Blaine. Two minutes later, he heard a knock on the door and he jumped up. Peeking through the peephole, he saw Blaine's huge smile and hurried to open the door.

"Hey!" Blaine stepped into the house and offered his arms to Kurt, who gladly accepted a hug. "Ready?"

"Yup! Let's go."

The two of them walked to Blaine's car, where Blaine followed Kurt to the passenger side and opened his door for him, while Kurt smirked.

"Hey," Blaine defended himself, "you told me I could go the whole nine yards in making this the most stereotypical first date the world has ever seen."

Kurt laughed as they pulled out of the driveway. "Except for the fact that I'm a boy."

"Well…besides that," Blaine conceded. "I feel like I should have met your parents, though, and they should have threatened me or something, to complete the experience."

"I'm sure that day will come, but in the meantime –" he checked his phone, "Finn is the acting paternal figure. And he just sent me a text reading – Oh my God." Kurt shook his head at Finn's straightforwardness.

_Bro, it only takes 3 pounds of pressure to rip a guy's balls off. You're a shrimp, but I think you can handle it. ~ Finn_

"He texted you _oh my God_?"

"No, he said…never you mind."

"Kurt, I want to know," Blaine whined. He craned his neck to see the screen.

"Blaine, eyes on the road, please. I don't want to die."

"Then you have to tell me what he said."

"Just…a pointer in self-defense 101."

Blaine's eyes widened in understanding, and a grin spread across his face. "Ohhhh, let me guess. Three pounds of pressure?"

Kurt's mouth dropped open, partly because he was amazed, and partly because he was horrified. "Wha- how did you-?"

"My freshman year, at my old school, I snuck into the girls' self defense class," he explained nonchalantly.

Kurt was completely baffled. "You – I can't – of all the things, Blaine!" he stammered.

"Well…" he looked appropriately apologetic. "I just kind of hid under the bleachers in the gym. Nobody noticed me. I didn't get to practice the moves, but I heard all the essentials." He turned to Kurt and shrugged.

Kurt laughed, because now that he thought about it, that was definitely one of those overly cautious moves Blaine liked to make. "How very…proactive of you. Did you expect to be dating any douchebag body builders?" As soon as the joke was out of his mouth, he realized that the two of them _were_ actually on a date, and maybe this topic of conversation wasn't ideal.

Blaine's bashful grin disappeared, and he suddenly looked contemplative. He kept his eyes focused on the highway as he answered. "No, I was thinking more about the bullies when I ditched the movie they were showing all the guys – you know, something like How Not to Rape Girls – and snuck into the gym. A few of the moves I learned ended up coming in handy, though." He finally looked at Kurt, who's eyes were wide. He knew a little bit about Blaine's old school, a public school about an hour from Westerville, and he knew that the bullying situation was bad enough to cause him to transfer, but Blaine had never shared any of the details. Right now, Kurt was fighting between steering the conversation to a more appropriate topic and asking Blaine to continue his story, find out more about his past.

"Sorry." Blaine's eyes were now full of concern. "I didn't mean to freak you out. We should probably –"

"Look at the road!" Kurt exclaimed.

"Oh crap." Blaine snapped his head back towards the highway and quickly swerved to the right, as a car passed them at least ten miles per hour over the speed limit.

"Sorry for yelling." Kurt looked down at his feet. "I just didn't want us to die."

"No, no, I getcha." Blaine turned off the highway and Kurt breathed a sigh of relief. His smooth moves on the stage may have lead Kurt to initially believe otherwise, but Blaine was truly an awful driver. "But um, where were we?"

"Oh, we were discussing castration."

Blaine shook his head, laughed, and reddened slightly as he remembered. "Leave it to us to come up with the perfect before-dinner conversation."

Kurt snickered. "And we didn't even have the other Warblers to help steer our conversation into immature territory! I think we're learning."

Their conversation turned to Warbler practice, classes, the car Wes and David were planning on buying together, and after twenty minutes on the road, Kurt couldn't help but make a few comments on Blaine's abysmal driving skills.

"Well, you can stop complaining now, because we're here," Blaine declared. They pulled into the parking lot of a small but heavily adorned building. It must have been a busy night because they took one of the only spots left.

Blaine must have noticed that Kurt was looking around worriedly at the number of cars in the parking lot, because he smiled reassuringly. "I made reservations for us."

They walked across the parking lot hand in hand, arms swinging a little too fast to be normal, but Kurt attributed that to Blaine's nervousness.

"Come here." Blaine tugged on Kurt's hand and pulled him into the shadows near the edge of the parking lot.

Kurt looked around, wondering if any of the passersby read this situation as sketchy. Probably not, he decided, as most people wouldn't assume that a pair of teenage boys constituted a couple.

"Hmm," Kurt wondered aloud. "Pulling me off into a dark corner…yes, perfectly normal way to start a date."

Blaine rolled his eyes and stepped towards Kurt, wrapping his arms around the taller boy's waist and putting his lips to his ear. _Oh God, here we go again with the whispering._ He thought if he mentally prepared himself, he might have a chance at remembering his own name, but he was sorely mistaken. Blaine laughed breathily, sending shivers down his spine that he was sure Blaine could feel.

"You okay?" Blaine was looking at Kurt with sudden concern.

"Yeah," Kurt managed. "It's just that when you do that…all of my brain cells kind of go on strike."

Blaine laughed again, but pulled away from Kurt's ear this time. "Then I'll keep my distance because I have something important to tell you that you need to be listening to."

Kurt's heart skipped more than a few beats.

"Look, I know you were on the fence about coming here-" Kurt wanted to protest, but Blaine placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. "Not just about the money. You probably think I'm crazy for trying to bring us to a very public and kind of old fashioned place." Kurt shrugged in guilty agreement. "Well, I want you to know that I did my research. I didn't just bring you to some random place without looking into it first. Wes and David have actually been here a few times and they recommended it to me. Said they never ran into any trouble here."

Kurt smiled. "I trust you. I wasn't that worried anyway, to be honest." He wrapped his arm around Blaine's waist and pulled him closer. "I think I just get this irrational feeling that everything's going to be okay when I'm around you." He knew he was blushing and, as clichéd as it was, he wondered if it was too dark for Blaine to notice.

Blaine laughed and turned them in the direction of the restaurant. They entered arm-in-arm, both reflexively glancing around for signs of trouble.

"I asked for a table toward the back," Blaine explained to a clearly inattentive Kurt, who had begun fawning over the table settings and other decorations. "But I think we should let go of each other till we get seated okay?"

Kurt recognized the note of seriousness in Blaine's voice and pried his attention away from the interior decoration of the restaurant. He nodded and pulled away from his boyfriend just as a waitress walked up to them.

~oOo~

"Blaine, I am done discussing Katy Perry," Kurt declared, snatching away Blaine's iPhone as he was about to pull up another video.

"Well, if you'd rather talk about how much Justin Bieber you have on your iPod, that's fine with me." Blaine smirked and Kurt could tell that he'd been dying to use that one for a while.

"I'm sorry, but when did I give you permission to examine my music!"

Blaine shrugged nonchalantly. "I would never have assumed that you had anything to hide."

"Shut up!" Kurt lightly kicked Blaine under the table.

"It's unbelievable. The first guy I take out on a date ends up trying to wound me."

Kurt's laugh was cut off by a woman's shrill voice.

"I told you, Robert!"

Both boys froze, their eyes locked on one another. Kurt was the first to break eye contact and glance to his right at the couple who looked to be in their sixties. Too late, he realized exactly how loudly Blaine had just announced to the restaurant that Kurt was indeed his date. The woman briefly met his glance with an icy cold look of hatred, but quickly averted her eyes. Kurt turned back to Blaine, too shocked to be offended by the couple's outrageous prejudice. But Blaine's face crumpled- Kurt had never seen him look so devastated.

"I'm going to ask for a new table," the woman declared loudly, standing up and looking around for a waiter.

Blaine looked like he was about to cry and something inside Kurt snapped. There was no way this lady would get away with ruining his boyfriend's night. He glanced around and saw the one empty table across the room. The woman was at the front of the restaurant arguing with a waitress. He only had a couple of minutes…but he needed something with a flat metal edge, like a flathead screwdriver. The name popped into his head from the hours he'd spent in his father's garage. But there was no way he would procure that in the middle of a restaurant…_wait._

"Blaine." Kurt was surprised at how even his voice sounded. "I need you to give me your bookmark."

As Blaine blinked in confusion, a tear slipped down his cheek.

"Blaine!" Kurt's voice broke. "Trust me. I promise they won't get away with this. I just need you to give me your bookmark. I know you have that disgusting book in your bag." His attempt at humor managed to make Blaine smile, and he reluctantly dug into his bag. He produced the fancy metal strip which Kurt snatched up and hurried over to the empty table.

Blaine couldn't believe how weak he was. He was sitting here, practically crying, because someone was disgusted by his relationship with Kurt. Why had he not been more prepared for this? He had deluded himself into thinking that he could safely take another boy out on a date in the middle of Ohio. Why hadn't he listened to Kurt and ditched the expensive restaurant for a quiet night on the Dalton grounds? But moreover, what on earth was Kurt doing with his bookmark?

Across the restaurant, Blaine watched him throw a glance over his shoulder and bend over the table, fumbling with something. Within seconds, he straightened up, winked at Blaine, and walked back to their table.

"Don't look at them," Kurt whispered.

"What did you do?"

"I'll tell you in a minute."

The waitress came and moved the couple's dishes to the table in the corner. When she passed, Kurt leaned towards Blaine.

"I sabotaged them," he said in a low, ominous voice.

"Should I even ask what you did?"

"I think you'd better, because we might not get to see it happen. We don't want to look suspicious."

"Ok, so what did you do?"

"Well, it's not much, but I unscrewed the lids to the salt and pepper shakers. I thought the least we could do is ruin their food, right?"

Blaine's face remained blank for a split second but then broke into a tearful smile. Kurt, who had probably never broken a rule in his life, did this just to defend him. And what he had never realized before was how good it felt to be protected.

They must have been an odd sight to any of the other patrons of the restaurant who happened to glance their way. Kurt was trying so hard not to laugh out loud, and he was pretty sure the only thing that prevented him from doing so was the sight of Blaine's face. He was shaking his head and looked extremely choked up, clearly trying to hold back tears, but from the small smile that managed to escape, Kurt was sure they were tears of relief.

"Have I ever told you that you're a genius?" he reached for Kurt's hand and didn't even bother to check who was looking.

Kurt's smile was smug. "Pretty sure you have, actually."

Their waitress brought them both back to reality by asking if they wanted desserts. Neither one of them was in the emotional state to give a verbal response, so Kurt just shook his head and smiled when she handed him the check.

"Don't even think about it, Mister." Blaine snatched the bill from Kurt's surprisingly yielding hands.

"I wouldn't dare tinker with the delicate rules of this competition."

"Well I think this fiasco tips the scales in my favor, doesn't it? After all, who would have thought we'd be able to squeeze in some pranking during a formal evening?" he asked as though he'd planned the whole thing.

"Oh please."

"We're just so lucky you didn't get caught. Imagine what would have happened."

Before the two of them could even take the time to appreciate how truly fortunate they were, a disgruntled waitress who looked a little older than them approached their table.

Kurt and Blaine exchanged significant here-it-comes looks.

"I saw what you did." Her cold stare shifted from one boy to the other.

They each contemplated her with the appropriate blend of confusion and innocence that only two years of high school theater could perfect.

"And I thought it was awesome!" Her face broke out into a grin, and Kurt let his breath out in a rush. Blaine was a little bit slower to comprehend. Miranda, as her nametag read, bumped Blaine's shoulder with her fist. "You're not in trouble, kid."

Kurt sat in bewilderment as he watched Blaine's inner Dalton take over, and added this to his mental list of why his boyfriend was no less than perfect.

"Oh, well thank you very much." He sat up straighter in his chair. "I think I can speak for both myself and Kurt when I say that we truly appreciate your support-"

"Save it, prep school boy." She winked. "Look, I've seen people put up with this crap for way too long. It's about time you guys start fighting dirty."

Kurt laughed. "Will do."

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I have couple of ruined dinners I have to _not_ take care of."

She winked as she walked away, and Kurt and Blaine fist bumped under the table.

"I think we just made first-date history," Blaine said to Kurt as they walked out of the restaurant hand in hand.

"I don't know about that." Kurt pulled him closer so he could whisper in his ear. "Remember, tomorrow's my turn."


	3. Chapter 3

"That was a disaster!" Kurt hurried out of the restaurant into the lamplit parking lot, tugging Blaine behind him.

"I think we can safely chalk that up as one of our worst dining experiences ever," Blaine agreed, finally letting out his laughter. He hadn't wanted to crack up in front of the waiter, but he and Kurt had been exchanging criticisms all night and that last look Kurt gave him as the waiter handed them their check…he was afraid he would wet his pants once he could finally burst out laughing. And that would be bad, considering they were his Dalton pants. And he wouldn't be able to get them dry cleaned until Tuesday night, because that's when the dry cleaning people came to do pick-ups at Dalton. And he knew he would have to get them dry cleaned because of what happened to Wes that one unfortunate time he was locked out of the residence hall all night. But he didn't pee in his pants, and he was here with Kurt, and they could laugh about the whole thing now. Except for one small factor.

"I'm starving," Kurt complained as they reached his car.

"Tell me about it."

"I just don't get what their angle was with the microscopic portion size. What were they trying to do? Get us all to fit into clothes at the Baby Gap?"

Blaine knitted his eyebrows at his boyfriend's obscure analogy. Where did he come up with these things?

He and Kurt got into the car, Kurt opening his door for him first (of course, since this was Kurt's date). He had to admit, he never had a boy hold a door for him before tonight. Well, a purposeful door-hold, not the kind where the person you're talking to happens to reach the door first. Like a real, meaningful, after-you, door-hold. Even when he went to school dances with other guys- heck, for the spring dance of his during freshman year, the other dude had been the one to ask him out. But somehow it always ended up that Blaine would play the traditional "male" role. He would open the door, he would drive, he would pay. Maybe it was because he simply looked the part, or maybe it was just his reflex, but either way, he was going to let Kurt do this more often because he never knew how great it felt to be taken care of. As Kurt shut his door for him, he though how lucky he was to be a boy so that he could completely enjoy this sensation without feeling guilty for being anti-feminist, or whatever it was called.

"What are you concentrating so hard on?" Kurt had gotten in on the driver's side.

"Just…how incredible you are." He smiled and took Kurt's hand.

"Well, that's really sweet of you, but you'd better start thinking about what we're going to do now. Its eleven o'clock pm, we're starving, and we're a million miles away from Dalton." He tapped the GPS, waking it up. "In fact, we don't really know where we are!"

Blaine just smiled. For some reason, Kurt's reality check didn't seem to phase him. Because no matter what happened, Kurt was his prince, and that seemed to make everything okay, even the cheesiness of the idea.

But Kurt's face suddenly fell. "Wait."

"What's the matter?"

"I know why you're doing this."

"Doing what?" Blaine was alarmed- what had he been doing to upset Kurt?

"Sitting there acting so relaxed like everything is completely fine! It's because this was supposed to be my turn to take you out, so this should be completely my mistake to fix. You're right. This is the only time you'll hear me say this, but I'm throwing the competition." His voice became more and more high pitched, and it started to waver. "I need your help…I have no idea what to do, Blaine!"

"Wha- no! That's not what I was thinking at all!" He took Kurt's other hand and turned him gently so he could look into his eyes. "Do you want to know honestly what I was thinking?"

Kurt nodded.

"I was thinking about how completely romantic this evening was for me. I don't care about how the GPS screwed up getting us here, about the crappy service, about how long we had to wait. I just love being with you and having you do all the silly, cheesy things for me like hold the door and help me with my jacket. Nobody's ever done that for me." Kurt's face began to soften. "But that doesn't mean that I'm just going sit here while you figure out how to get us out of this mess. Okay?"

Kurt finally smiled and instead of answering, he reached up and twined his fingers into Blaine's hair, tilted his head back, and kissed him gently.

"Okay. Now should we come up with a plan or waste more time?" Kurt asked sarcastically, after he released him.

"Umm…waste more time, I think," Blaine replied, a little dazed.

Kurt chucked and turned the keys in the ignition. "When we get back," he promised.

~oOo~

It felt like forever ago since they had left Dalton. When he and Kurt walked down to breakfast in the morning, they were met with Wes and David's orders to report to the choir room immediately.

All of the Warblers were gathered there, some still in their Dalton pajamas.

"What's going on, guys?" Blaine asked.

At that moment, Wes and David burst into the room. "Alright, who are we missing?" Wes demanded.

"Everybody think. Look around for the person who stands to the right of you. Look for the person who stands on your left. If they're not here, tell me, and then text them. We don't want to have to do numbers."

The boys groaned at David's mention of numbers. He was right. No one wanted to count off by numbers- it usually took four times as long as normal attendance did.

When they were satisfied that they had rounded up as many Warblers as possible, David made the announcement.

"Gentlemen, we have an emergency performance this evening." Kurt and Blaine exchanged horrified looks. "We'll be departing directly at the end of the lunch period, and I better see each and every one of you in the parking lot at two thirty sharp."

"Wait, what?" one of the boys looked up from his cell phone.

"Nick, what part of that announcement did you not understand?" Wes demanded.

"Umm…I…kind of didn't hear it. Would you mind repeating it?" he asked hopefully.

"Jeff, please explain to Nick what he was too busy to listen to," Wes demanded. "I'm sorry, David, please continue."

"Not a problem, Wes." He flashed a smile full of perfectly white teeth. Blaine swore that these two could run a talk show. "As I was saying, this is too short notice to hire a bus, so we're going to take cars."

A collective shout erupted, but Wes whipped out his gavel and pounded the silence back into the room.

"We already have a list of who has a car on campus and who can drive more than one person."

Blaine and Kurt turned to each other again. This could be good. Kurt had gotten his license only a while ago, which meant he could only take one non-family member. Which, with any luck, would be Blaine.

Wes and David had apparently already assigned cars, and they handed out a list to each Warbler, complete with the contact information of the drivers.

"Relax, guys. You're driving down together," Wes clapped Kurt on the back.

"Sweet!" Blaine shouted, before he and the rest of the Warblers were silenced by the gavel.

"Alright. We're driving to Dayton to sing at a state function," David explained. "Don't ask me why they aren't holding it in our state capital, which just so happens to be about fifteen miles from here."

"The University of Ohio's choir cancelled last night due to travel delays. They were singing in Washington D.C. and their flight was postponed, so we've been asked to fill in for them," Wes continued.

Kurt gave Blaine an approving glance. Blaine shoved him- Kurt made fun of him for being the only lead singer way too much.

"No offense, but can we go eat now?" a boy in the back asked.

"Does anyone second Joe's motion to adjourn this meeting of the Warblers and go eat breakfast?"

_Maybe Wes and David should run a courtroom instead of a talk show_, Blaine decided.

Thirty six Warblers stood up and began to stampede the doors.

"Two thirty, parking lot, by the Dalton sign, in uniform!" Wes bellowed as the boys left.

Of course, Kurt had been devastated.

"Blaine, this is awful timing. I had such a nice evening planned for us!"

He asked if Kurt wanted to postpone it, but they realized that the upcoming week was exams, and next weekend was regionals.

"It would make the most sense to have fun now, while we can," Kurt decided.

"Well, we still have a few hours before we have to leave…I don't know, would we have time to-"

"No, I think we should make a new plan. Honestly, what I had in mind could be done any day, and would probably work best as a break from homework or something. Probably when the weather is nicer, too."

Kurt looked a little dejected, and it kind of broke Blaine's heart to make him cancel his romantic picnic- or whatever it was he had planned.

"Actually, this could be a blessing in disguise." Kurt was already tapping away at his cell phone. "There's this place I've always wanted to try…yup! It's right near where we're performing. Perfect!"

Kurt wouldn't tell him anything about where they were going, as usual, and they spent the rest of the day working on homework. Well, mostly Kurt just helped Blaine edit his character study of _Jane Eyre_, which needed a lot of help. ("I hate to invalidate your entire essay, Blaine, but I really don't think you can argue that Mr. Rochester was gay.") And being a year older than him, Kurt could help Blaine with physics, which he'd taken the previous year. ("Blaine, in the world of science, opposite charges _always_ attract and like charges _always_ repel.")

Finally, they met the others in the parking lot and departed on the hour and a half drive to Dayton. The performance itself went smoothly, but they couldn't treat it as a dry run for regionals, as they had hoped. It was a pretty serious ceremony, so they sang the national anthem in eight part harmony and an arrangement of America the Beautiful they had been working on, featuring Blaine on lead vocals.

Unfortunately, whoever planned the event definitely didn't have the choir in mind. Sure, it was great for the audience if it opened and closed with a performance, but that meant that the singers had to sit through an entire three hours of people giving and receiving awards.

By the time the whole thing was over and they were pulling out of the parking lot, it was eight thirty pm.

"Before you ask me if we have time, yes we do," Kurt declared.

Blaine shook his head in mock offense. "I haven't even disagreed with you yet, and you still get all defensive on me!"

Kurt chose to ignore him. "I'm just going to put the location into the GPS, give me a minute."

Things started going wrong just about then. It turned out that the address on the restaurant's website was incorrect. They drove for twenty minutes and ended up at a run-down hotel.

"Kurt…are you sure this is it?" Blaine asked, when Kurt was about to pull into the driveway.

"Well, that's what it says. The restaurant is supposed to be part of the hotel."

As much as he hated to disagree with Kurt, they were most definitely not in the right place, and it probably wouldn't be very safe to get out of the car here.

"Well…why don't we just give them a call. Maybe the restaurant moved."

After a quick phone call, it was determined that Blaine was right. Kurt re-programmed the GPS, and Blaine gave the hotel kind of a wistful look as they pulled out.

"What's the matter?"

"You know, if you want, we could totally just ditch the restaurant and stay here tonight…"

Kurt must not have seen Blaine's mischevious look, because he froze with his hands on the steering wheel and almost ran into the highway divider.

"Oh my god!" Blaine screamed as Kurt swerved. "Sorry. I'm joking."

"You better be. Because when that time comes, I expect five-star." It was Kurt's turn to smirk.

The restaurant turned out to be a refurbished, cute little cottage, but it turned out to be another twenty minutes from the hotel, and in the opposite direction from Dalton. For being so small and out of the way, Blaine was surprised at how crowded it was.

"Do you think we should text Wes or David and tell them to sign us out for longer?" Kurt asked worriedly. They had all signed themselves out for the trip, but Kurt and Blaine had given themselves an extra two hours. At this point though, that probably wouldn't cut it, and the secretaries would get on their case if they showed up significantly later than their estimated arrival.

"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea. Did you sign us out in pencil?"

"Always."

"Alright, then they should be able to figure something out." Blaine sent a quick text to Wes, explaining the situation. Technically, students weren't supposed to sign each other out, but Blaine had faith in Wes.

~oOo~

"Okay, hold up. What are our options for food?" Blaine asked, as his stomach rumbled. He knew Kurt was going to kill him for even suggesting it, but he typed "McDonalds" into the search bar on the GPS.

"Oh no you don't."

"C'mon, Kurt. You've gotta be starving too."

"Exactly. Which is why I'm not going to McDonalds because there's nothing to eat there that won't subtract years from our lives."

Blaine sighed. This wasn't going to be easy, but what other options did they have? They were in the middle of nowhere, and another quick search showed that this was pretty much their best option.

He took a deep breath. Trial number one. "I'm sure one night of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils isn't going to kill you, Kurt."

He received a glare in return.

"They have really good ice cream sundaes."

Another glare.

"I bet they have those Happy Meals with the princess toys! You would love one of those."

Kurt turned and flashed him the most beautiful smile. "Sold."

Blaine pumped his fist into the air. "Let's go!"

Kurt pulled out of the parking lot, and they began the twenty minute drive to McDonalds.

"Okay, it says to turn left on 75 in about three miles," Blaine instructed.

"Great story, but I can drive and read the GPS at the same time."

Blaine had to look over at Kurt to make sure he was joking and not actually irritated. "But you have a whole extra year of experience- you can't keep comparing us." He turned and faced the window in mock indignation.

"Not fair."

"What's not fair."

"Now I can't see you."

"That's a good thing, because your eyes are supposed to be on the road…wait a minute."

"What?"

"I think I just figured out how I can level up this playing field," he said slowly. He turned to face Kurt again, but this time he leaned over and brushed his hand along Kurt's cheekbone.

"Okayyyy, that will do."

Ignoring Kurt, he placed his lips lightly on the other boy's cheek.

"Blaine, I'm serious. If you don't want me to crash the car, you're going to have to knock it off. I'm not being sarcastic here."

Blaine realized what he was doing when the car started to veer towards the wrong lane. He straightened up.

"Fine, fine. I won't do it again."

The rest of the drive passed in a peaceful silence after Kurt distracted Blaine by allowing him to take control over the radio. Honestly, there was nothing really different about hanging out with Blaine three days ago than hanging out with him now. He'd been so worried before, wondering if their friendship would change, or if there would somehow be more barriers between them. But watching Blaine put his feet up on the dashboard and try to type out a text message with his nose reminded him that if anything was different, it was that they could be even more of themselves.

"Finally!" Blaine cheered when he saw the big yellow M rising up in the distance.

Minutes later, they were staring at the brightly lit menu, Blaine's face greedy while Kurt's was disgusted.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?" The cashier looked ready to call it a night.

"Umm, can we take another couple of minutes to decide?" Kurt asked in the most polite tone he could muster.

"Sure."

"Kurt, you could get a southwest chicken salad. That looks pretty healthy."

"I don't trust their chicken."

"So get it without the chicken."

"What?"

Blaine shrugged. "That's what my sisters do. They're vegetarian and that's practically the only thing they can eat at this place." He lowered his voice. "But don't be surprised if it takes them awhile to catch on." He nodded his head in the direction of the staff.

"Okay, whatever you say. What are you getting?"

Blaine put on a smile that definitely didn't match the age implied by his blazer. "Chicken nuggets Happy Meal."

"You are unbelievable."

"Hey, you're the one who wanted the toy!"

Kurt smacked himself on the forehead. "You're right! What toys do they have?"

The boys went over to the toy case and Kurt squealed. "Blaine! They're from _Tangled_!"

"Okay, I think we're gonna need two Happy Meals," Blaine murmured to himself. He tugged Kurt away from the toys and back towards the register.

It had been _forever _since he'd ordered a kid's meal, Kurt marveled. _Which would mean…wait a minute_- "We're too old to order kids meals!"

His boyfriend shrugged. "We'll tell them we have two kids in the car."

Kurt began to laugh, but stopped when the full value of that statement caught up to him. He wasn't sure at first if Blaine realized what he'd said, but when he saw the look in his eyes he knew he understood. That it could be real, could be their future, in ten or fifteen years. Kurt had no idea whether he or Blaine had initiated it, but all he knew was that they were kissing passionately in the middle of a McDonalds.

"Gentlemen, may I take your orders?"

The boys broke apart immediately.

"I'm so sorry, sir," Blaine apologized.

The man waved him off. "Just go ahead and order."

"Alright, we'd like a southwest chicken salad...without the chicken," Kurt began. "And we need two Happy Meals, both chicken nuggets."

"Do you want to make that _Tangled_ or _Transformers_?"

"_Tangled_," both boys said at the same time.

Blaine got out his credit card, but Kurt swiped it out of his hands. "This is still my date, whether this is a McDonald's or not."

"This worked out unbelievably well for a last-ditch effort," Kurt said with his mouth full of salad.

"I know. Wes and David are gonna be so jealous when we tell them where we went." Blaine was busy pulling his toy out of the plastic wrap. It was a Rapunzel doll about the size of his hand, with long hair and a little comb to brush it. Kurt's was a plastic figure of Rapunzel and the prince riding a white horse. Kurt knew that some kid in China probably made them, and he made a promise to himself to donate to a child-relief fund somewhere at some point.

"Remember when we were little and they used to call them boy toys and girl toys?" Kurt asked.

"That was awful. I remember when I was a kid…actually…" Blaine stopped. "This is a mildly depressing story."

Kurt looked at him with concern. Did Blaine not think he could handle hearing it? Didn't think he wanted to listen?

Blaine seemed to pick up on Kurt's confusion. "No, look, I mean we're eating Happy Meals next to a playland…this doesn't seem like the place to share horror stories from our pasts, right?"

"We'll save it for later, then." Kurt looked around at the playland wistfully. As much as he hated to admit it, he wished he were still short enough to be able to go inside. It would absolutely ruin his uniform, and it was probably infested with bacteria, but he still couldn't help getting flashbacks of sliding down the slide into his dad's arms, or having his dad toss him into the ball pit.

"No way," Blaine chuckled when he saw Kurt staring at the playland. "You want to go in there, don't you?"

"Well I'm actually over the height limit, so I have no choice but to watch from afar. You on the other hand might make the cut." He nudged Blaine playfully.

Blaine's face lit up. "You mean you would actually go in with me? C'mon, I'm sure these people don't care! We're the only ones in this place."

Before Kurt had time to protest, Blaine had already taken his hand and was dragging him towards the edge of the ball pit.

"I'm not so sure about this…what about our uniforms!"

"Are you suggesting we go skinny dipping?" Blaine winked.

"That it IT Blaine Anderson! I have had it with you!" He reached out and shoved Blaine into the ball pit, jumping in right after him.

Blaine resurfaced and began to launch a counterattack. "There is NO WAY you're getting away with pushing me around like that." He began to bury Kurt with the multicolored, plastic balls.

~oOo~

David turned another page of his textbook. "You know, it's getting pretty late and Blaine hasn't come whining for access to his room yet."

"Don't question it," Wes responded. "Now that Klaine is legit, this room is all ours."

"No, I mean I don't think they're back yet."

Wes shrugged. "So text them. Honestly, I don't see why you're so worried. You've been so fidgety since we had to sign them out again with extra time. They're smart people, they'll make it back."

David shut his book and texted Kurt, who he knew would be more likely to respond.

Seconds later, he got a reply.

"See that? They're fine," was Wes' unhelpful comment when he heard David's phone go off.

David gasped when he saw the response.

David: Kurt, where are you guys? We're worried :/

Kurt: Playing in the ball pit! :P

"Oh my god Wes, I'm not sure I know how to handle this. Does this mean what I think it does?"

Wes rolled his eyes as he got up to look. "Proabably not, if it's the Kurt and Blaine we know-" He paused with his mouth open when he read Kurt's response. "Ok, yeah." He took a deep breath. "Not sure how to handle this one either."

David got up and began pacing around the room.

"We haven't even given Kurt The Talk," Wes groaned.

"Well _I_ wanted to do it yesterday but _you_ told me to give them one weekend of innocent intentions."

"So this is my fault? Now I'm the bad guy?"

"I made an entire powerpoint," David moaned.

"Have I ever told you that you take things too far sometimes?" Wes asked with concern. "I thought we agreed on no visuals."

"Yes, but powerpoints can also be effective for organizing text and –"

"Fine, whatever." Wes cut him off. "Look, we've got to do something. Text him back."

"Me?" David gaped at him. "What am I supposed to say?"  
Wes shrugged. "You're the one with the powerpoint. Sounds like you have a lot to say."

"Okay, okay, I'll text him back."

"Something mature and calm, please," Wes warned.

"It's like he doesn't trust me," David muttered to himself.

~oOo~

"Cannonball!" Blaine yelled as he jumped into the pit, sending balls flying everywhere. He landed next to Kurt, who was excavating himself from the giant mound of balls he'd been buried in.

Blaine examined the front of his shirt.

"Our uniforms are going to be toast," Kurt declared when he finally got up.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm missing a button."

"Kurt was about to reprimand him, but his phone buzzed.

"Must be David again," he guessed. Or maybe Wes. Seriously, why were these two so concerned? They were taking their roles of peer mentors way to seriously, in his opinion – wait, what? He blinked and looked at David's message again.

"What is it?" Blaine stood up to look over Kurt's shoulder.

OMG KURT ARE YOU SERIOUS? DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING? PLEASE JUST COME BACK! Do you need us to come get you?

Blaine read the message and sighed. "Aaaand, this conclusively proves the fact that our friends are insane." He paused. But honestly Kurt, I would have been a little more specific in telling them were we are." He grinned.

Kurt shook his head. "I still have no idea – " he looked at his original text again and gasped.

"Because I said-"

"Yeah."

"So they think we're-"

"Yeah." Blaine nodded gravely. "Here, let me handle them." He took the phone and Kurt watched him type out a message.

This is Blaine. You guys need to mind your own business and stop harassing my boyfriend. We are perfectly fine, thank you.

He hit send before Kurt could protest.

"Don't worry, we'll tell them what we're really up to eventually. We're just gonna mess with them first."

~oOo~

Wes and David watched the screen of David's phone light up and Kurt's text appear.

"Oh my god, I don't think I can handle this, Wes." David took a deep breath after reading Blaine's message. "Kurt's like my child! And now he's gonna come home and his cute little innocent face will be all corrupted…do you think I should email him my powerpoint? What if – "

"David CHILL OUT!" Wes had his hands pressed to his temples and his eyes shut. "You are just turning this into way too big of a deal, okay? Most of the time I just play along with your dramatics, but this is going too far."

David looked up with a devastated expression. "What are you saying?"

"That you're making this way too stressful, and quite honestly, it's none of our business."

"Fine." He got up, crossed the room, and sat on the other bed. Neither of them said anything until a few minutes later, when David's phone buzzed.

"Alright David, I really don't want to open this by myself," Wes admitted. "Come back?"

David didn't look up at him. "Are you just playing along with my concern, or do you really want me back over there?"

Wes groaned. "I'm sorry I said that earlier. I didn't mean it, okay?"

David flashed him a smile. "Just checking." He bounded across the room and lept onto the bed next to Wes. "Let's open it!"

He tapped his phone and the boys were greeted with a photo of Kurt and Blaine lying side by side in a bed of multicolored plastic spheres.

Wes and David stared at the picture, then at each other.

"You pervert!" They shouted at the same time.

~oOo~

"It's late." Kurt looked at the dashboard clock and yawned.

"If _someone_ hadn't made a wrong turn way back in Springfield," Blaine teased.

"If _someone_ had clued me in that this whole thing was a bad decision…"

"I'm just kidding, Kurt. I had fun." Before Kurt could respond, he hit a button on the dashboard to turn on the radio.

Made a wrong turn, once or twice.

Kurt's jaw dropped. "No way!"

Dug my way out, blood and fire.

Bad decisions, that's alright.

"Welcome to our silly life," Blaine sang along. He reached over to take Kurt's hand before they both broke into song.

Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood

Miss No-way-it's-all-good…

Kurt didn't care that he was singing at a detrimental volume along to a song that was an insult to the name of music. Because this was their story.

Pretty, pretty, please

Don't you ever, ever feel

Like you're less than, less than perfect.

Kurt staled a bit on the last line of the chorus, just to make sure this was the clean version of the song. Blaine, on the other hand, plowed right through with the expletive. His hand flew to his mouth when he saw Kurt's expression.

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry."

"You're making it worse, just shut up and sing."

Like you're less than, less than perfect,

To me.

After a few more seconds, the radio cut out, but they both kept singing. Kurt let Blaine take the lead in the rap section and was surprised at how good he was.

When the song finished, Kurt had tears in his eyes. He thought back to the times at McKinley when it was really, really bad, when he was sure that we would never meet another gay guy, let alone one who actually liked him. And now, he wished he could go back to Glee Club and sing this song with Blaine, just to show them that it really was possible.

"Aww, Kurt." They were stopped at a traffic light, and it must have illuminated Kurt's face. Blaine brought a hand up to Kurt's cheek and wiped away his tears. "It's true, you know."

Kurt blinked. "What's true?"

"That you're perfect. For me, anyway."

"You too," Kurt whispered.

"I think you better pull over," Blaine said in a low voice.

No one was on the road, but Kurt signaled anyway. "Why?" he asked once he'd pulled over, even though he was already pretty sure of the answer.

Blaine responded by bringing his lips to Kurt's.

~oOo~

"Okay," Blaine whispered. "Think we should begin the final leg of the journey?"

"No."

He laughed. "I know what you mean…I'd be totally okay with spending all night here, but people would start to wonder what's going on." He paused. "If you're tired, I can drive."

Kurt snorted. "Don't kid yourself." He straightened up and rubbed his eyes. "But if you want to be helpful, just tell me when cars are coming, okay?"

"Yes, sir!"

They drove in silence for a while, then talked about school, the Warblers, Kurt's friends from New Directions. Gradually, Blaine's responses got more and more incoherent until his eyes fell closed and he slumped deeper into his seat.

Kurt laughed softly and began to hum a lullaby for his sleeping boyfriend.

After ten or so more minutes, he came up to the intersection of I-75 and Route 47. If he turned right onto 47 West, it would still be an hour and a half to Dalton, but if he kept going straight on I-75, they would be at his house in forty five minutes. It was a weekend, and the chances of anyone noticing were slim, after all…Burt and Carol were away, Finn had taken advantage of their absence to stay at Quinn's house (Thank God Tina and Mercedes were so efficient at collecting and spreading gossip). But Wes and David would blow the whole thing out of proportion, and all the Warblers would be talking about them…Kurt looked at Blaine again and sighed.

"Oh, screw it," he whispered, and kept going straight.


	4. Chapter 4

Blaine felt a hand on his cheek. "Mmmm," he mumbled.

Soft laughter. "You fell asleep. Just wake up for a minute so we can walk inside."

Blaine tried to ignore the voice. "Don't want to wake up." He just wanted to keep dreaming, keep living in the world where he and Kurt were together…

Lips pressed to his forehead, which confused him. Wes wasn't usually this affectionate with his morning wake-ups…he opened his eyes and saw Kurt gazing down at him.

"Oh!" He was pretty sure this was Real Kurt, not Dream Kurt, because he didn't think he could come up with a Kurt this perfect. "So it really happened?"

Kurt laughed again. "What really happened?"  
Uh-oh. If he didn't remember, that was a bad sign. "All of this," Blaine mumbled sleepily. "You, and me, and everything…" he trailed off.

"Well, I don't know if I can commit to the 'and everything' part…" – Kurt looked a little more mischievous than usual – "but the other things, yes. The restaurant, getting lost, the playland, all of that."

Blaine imagined that he smiled wider than he ever had in his whole life.

"But now we need to get you inside," Kurt instructed. "Come on."

Blaine took Kurt's outstretched hand and tried to wake up as they walked across the parking lot.

"Watch your step," Kurt warned as they approached the door.

Wait…he had woken up enough by now to figure out that they weren't walking into the main entrance of Dalton. "Kurt, where are we?"

"We're at my house, baby."

Blaine was so thankful that there weren't any porch lights on, so that Kurt couldn't see how red his face was.

"It was about a half hour closer than Dalton, and my co-pilot fell asleep on me, so I figured I'd better not risk the longer drive," Kurt explained as he let them into the house.

"Right, that makes sense." _Kurt is so sweet_, Blaine thought – "Aaahhh!" Kurt steadied him as he tripped on what seemed to be a throw rug.

"You really _are_ tired. C'mon, we're almost there."

Blaine hadn't realized how exhausted he was, but thankfully he made it up the stairs without any further embarrassment.

His full awareness finally kicked in when Kurt flicked the lights on in his room, sat him down on his bed, and started muttering about finding Blaine some pajamas. Blaine stopped breathing and hastily scanned the room. Right. One bed. That would make sense, considering that this was a room for one person. He didn't know why the thought panicked him so much- they'd fallen asleep while watching movies, at late-night Warblers practice, doing homework…but they'd never deliberately gone to bed together. Then again, they'd never been dating before.

_Look, you're getting ahead of yourself_, he thought. _Maybe he expects you to sleep on the floor or something…_that was it! He could just fall asleep on the floor right now and save them both the trouble! He was tired enough before that it would be completely reasonable. He began to nonchalantly slide down the side of the bed and was about to droop onto the floor when Kurt turned around.

"Blaine, what on earth are you doing?"

"Who, me? Oh, uhh-"

"Get back on the bed. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen you this tired. Now I know not to keep you out past – what time is it, anyway?"

_There goes that plan._ Kurt babbled on and on as he struggled to lift Blaine back onto the bed.

"You might be taller, but I'm still heavier. Let me help you out." Blaine ditched the exhaustion charade and stood up.

"Thanks," Kurt huffed. He threw some PJ's at Blaine – a pair of sweatpants and an old T-shirt. "These are clean, don't worry." Not that Blaine had been worried. "I know, you didn't think I owned anything cotton, did you? I don't know why Finn and Burt keep buying me this stuff, it's not like I actually wear it, but it came in use this time! Okay, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to proceed with my nighttime moisturizing routine…"

Blaine tuned him out as he continued to chatter. This was bad. Kurt only got this talkative when he was extremely nervous or extremely excited about something, and neither of those situations were good signs. Kurt disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Blaine alone to continue freaking out.

"Okay, think," he told himself. Maybe he should call Wes. No, that would just earn him a lecture. Why, why, _why_ hadn't he let his mentors give him that stupid little talk of theirs? He should have listened to Wes when he had the chance, instead of trying to convince him that Wikipedia had answered all his questions.

"Unless you want to end up like your hero Bella Swan, having a panic attack on the bathroom floor, you'd better just put on your brave face and let me power through this," Wes had said.

And now that was exactly what he was doing, wasn't it? It killed him to say it again, but Wes had been right.

"Blaine, are you okay?" Kurt poked his head into the room, and his concern was visible through the layers of God-knows-what lathered all over his face. "You look paler than me. Something's wrong." He sat on the bed next to him.

_Breathe_, he told himself. The best thing was probably just to be honest. "Okay," he began, his voice a little shaky. "I know I was joking around before, about the hotel and everything, but…I'm not ready for this. At all. I mean, maybe someday – well, _hopefully_ someday – wait, that's not what I meant – I mean, we have plenty of time, and uhhh it's really late – no that's a lame excuse…" Blaine watched Kurt's face become more confused as he talked, but something finally seemed to dawn on Kurt.

"Blaine, stop. That's not what's going on. You're really beating around the bush on this one, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you thought I brought you here to do the nasty." He smirked.

"Hey, if I'm not allowed to beat around the bush, you aren't either. No euphemisms." Now that a sense of relief had washed over him, he was back to his old self.

"Fine, then allow me to be blunt." Kurt put on his drama face. "I hate to disappoint you Blaine, but we will not be having sex tonight."

Neither of them could keep a straight face after that, considering that Kurt's was covered in moisturizer, and they both collapsed onto Kurt's bed in a fit of giggles.

"You are too much," Blaine gasped.

"Alright, what do you say we get some sleep?"

"That sounds like a great idea."

"Okay, then let me wash this stuff off my face, and then you can put on those pajamas and we'll be set. Oh, and you better wash that gel out of your hair unless you want to sleep on a towel."

Kurt climbed into bed while he waited for Blaine to change. This had been such a long day, he could barely think back to this morning at the Warbler meeting. He snatched his phone off his nightstand to check the time, and found a text message from David. _Busted_, he thought.

When are you two punks getting back?

He sighed. He loved his friend to pieces but why couldn't David just trust him and leave him alone? He was about to write a rude response, but stopped. Wes and David had faithfully checked up on them throughout the night, and honestly, if something had gone wrong, he knew they would have picked him and Blaine up, no questions asked. So instead, he told David the truth.

Tomorrow morning. Blaine's sleeping over at my house. Don't freak out.

He waited for David's frantic response, and was surprised to receive a text written in all lowercase letters.

Fineee, we'll miss you! But for my own peace of mind, I needed to send you this.

Kurt clicked on the attachment at the bottom with premonition…he had a feeling he knew what it was, and hopefully it couldn't be worse than Ms. Pillsbury's pamphlets…but then again, this was David they were talking about here, so anything was possible…Oh God. David had wanted to give them a powerpoint presentation? No, he wanted to give _Blaine_ a powerpoint. When he saw the title, Kurt was instantly glad that his boyfriend had managed to escape this unfathomable form of torture. The title read – _Everything Blaine Anderson Needs to Know: A Well-Researched Guide by David Johnson/ Special acknowledgements to Wes Young_.

Kurt groaned out loud and closed the file before he was subjected to any more of this nonsense. But as embarrassing as that would have been, Kurt knew that David was doing everything he could for both of them – probably things he wished someone else had done for him.

David, you are absolutely insane, but thanks. Really. For everything.

-Kurt

Awwww, you liked it!

-David

I'm going on a need-to-know basis right now, but I really appreciate the thought.

-Kurt

I'm glad ur more appreciative than Blaine.

-David

LOL. We need to ladychat soon! Tomorrow?

-Kurt

Absolutely! Omg kurt I have so much to tell you! And I need the details from todayyyy!

-David

Haha kk you will be the first to know!

-Kurt

Blaine came out of the bathroom, hair semi-ungelled, and Kurt gave him a dubious look.  
"I guess that's as good as it ever gets," he decided.

"Hey," Blaine countered. "We don't all have hair like yours."

"One day, Blaine Anderson, you will show me your natural head of hair. And that's not a request."

He didn't have the energy to argue, and even if he had argued, he doubted Kurt would let him have his way. "Whatever you say." He kissed Kurt on the cheek and climbed into bed, sliding against the wall to make room. Kurt climbed in facing Blaine, and the two of them were content to lie there with their fingers intertwined. After a few minutes, Kurt spoke.

"Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"The lights are still on."

Blaine moaned, then laughed. This happened to him and Wes almost every night (of course from separate beds), and the problem had become so severe that they were looking into getting a remote system. Normally, Blaine would fight to the death not to have to be the one to get out of bed and turn it off, but this time…

"I've got it."

"Oh, please, you're my guest." Kurt began to sit up, but he was quickly pulled back down.

"Please let me?" Blaine begged.

"But I'm supposed to be taking care of you tonight," Kurt protested.

Blaine checked his watch. "Well, it's two in the morning, so tonight's over." He flashed Kurt a smile and slipped out of bed.

"Ugh," Kurt groaned. "Then I owe you one tomorrow."

"You mean today." He flicked the lights out.

"But it's today now, so I mean the day after this morning."

Blaine slid back into bed. "I think we need to go to sleep, Kurt. We'll figure this one out tomorrow."

"You mean today."

"Oh my god, whatever!"

"Okay fine."

Blaine smiled into the darkness. Actually, now that he thought about it, it really _was_ dark…didn't Kurt have a nightlight? He hated to bring it up, but this was serious.

"Hey Kurt?"

"What now?"

"It's uhh…k-kinda dark in here."

"I know, isn't it nice? It never gets this dark in Dalton with all the lights from the parking lot."

_Well, this is going in the wrong direction_, Blaine thought. Something told him that subtlety wasn't his strong point tonight. He decided he'd better be direct, no matter what it cost his personal pride.

"I don't know, it's a little dark in here for me. Do you have one of those little plug-in lights, you know, the kind where –"

"You want a nightlight?" Kurt's voice was incredulous.

"C'mon, don't judge me, please?" _And don't tell Wes_, he added silently. It was a little bit mean, but he had let Wes go all year thinking that he, Blaine, was only putting up with the nightlight and didn't rely on it as much as his roommate did.

"I'm not judging you, I'm just trying to think if I still have one…yeah I'm pretty sure I got rid of mine like ten years ago."

Silence.

"Blaine? Are we going to be able to make it without one tonight?"

He sighed. He _hated_ the dark, it made him feel sad and cold and lonely and his cell phone was dead so he couldn't even use his flashlight app for light…but then again, Kurt was right here next to him. "I think so. Only because you're here, though."

Kurt wrapped his arm around Blaine's shoulders and lightly brushed his face with his free hand. "Anytime," he whispered. "But just in case, I have an idea."

He got out of bed and went over to the window. As he opened the curtain, moonlight washed over the entire room.

"Better?" Kurt asked when he was lying down next to Blaine again.

"Perfect." With the light, Kurt could see that he couldn't stop smiling.

"What?"

"It's just that…I don't know, a few days ago, I would have thought that all of this would be impossible to find."

"I know what you mean."

"We're lucky, I guess."

"You're right."

"We'd better go to sleep before I convince myself that this was all a dream."

"Good idea."

"Good night, Kurt."

"Good night, Blaine."

And with the moonlight shining down on them, they fell asleep almost instantly.


End file.
